Once you’ve decided to travel around the world, you must be a very social, friendly, open minded and curious person. But considering all of the above as true, some people still find it a bit disturbing when travelling to a new country with a completely different ways of living their life much different than one tourist expects. If you are travelling to another continent, you will definitely step out of your comfort zone. If you are not prepared of the cultural shock you may experience there, or as simple as if you don’t consider buying a bottle of water instead of drinking the one inside your home, your trip may be destroyed at the start.
If you are traveling to India without being prepared of meeting the other part of the world, experiencing different culture, values, food and so on, you may be shocked and nervous when you get there. It is one of the most populated countries in the world, and as that, the pollution there is very high. But besides this, it is a wonderful country worth visiting, with gorgeous buildings, landmarks and monuments. There are many blog articles written by experienced people that love travelling all over the internet which can be used as a help once you consider going to another continent, but here we tried to collect all the useful information and make your research more pragmatic.
Within this article we will stick to the common guidelines for all the tourists which are willing to visit India, but don’t know what to put in their expectations.
Food and water in India
First of all, once you are there try to only eat freshly cooked food. Don’t eat juices, salad or anything raw, since there is an option that they are washed by contaminated water, which will lead you to a new timetable for your trip, mostly consisted of visiting the bathroom. Choose the restaurants wise and be careful with the hot spices. Also, it is very important to choose a drink which doesn’t have ice cubes. A cold Coke without the cubes will be the perfect fit for you, once it will help you kill the bacteria in your stomach, and you won’t be in danger of having a new one if the ice is made from tap water.
Be careful not to get scammed
Another thing to consider is that there are many people selling things over the streets, and some of them will have the approach of giving you a gift which will turn into you paying for it. There is a type of people being gifted for selling the things on this way, and if you don’t know how to cut it at the beginning, you may end up falling over their charm and buying it. Once you are in a store, make sure you count your exchange good enough and ask if you are missing something. When visiting the main tourist attractions you will find many people touting trinkets and gemstones for sale. You should be careful while entertaining their hype and unless you are not wanting to buy some souvenirs, it is better to stay away from the possibility of being scammed.
Getting the experience from the locals is always a great advice. It is better if you ask your host or be informed over the internet in advance about the true pricing of the things.
Whenever you are visiting a temple, you should bring your offerings. You should have some flowers as a sign of respect or in prayer. And remember to always remove your shoes at the entrance.
Seize the means of transportation
Travelling in India can be a bit harder than you’ve expected if you are not using the best ways of transportation. If the destination is short enough, you should use a train, but you must consider booking a ticket online previously, since there is a chance that all the tickets will be sold. When on the train, travelling across the countryside can be very beautiful experience. It is very important to be ready at time for getting of it because the train only stops at the station for about a minute. Also, it is very important to act like you know where you are going, since there are a lot of taxi drivers which may bill you more than you were supposed to be paying.
Transportation across the country
On the other hand, when going on a longer destination, the best possible way to travel across is taking a plain. The tickets are quite affordable and with a plane you can reach almost every major destination in India. For example, if you consider taking a flight from Mumbai to Delhi, you should see the online options first and book a tickets on this way, considering the lists of Mumbai to Delhi flights. But be sure that you’ve already went to the prepaid taxi or considered calling your hotel in order to send you a driver. Avoid going around just walking without a certain plan. Also, you must be extra careful if you are a woman. On this point, people in India have very different approach towards women and there are certain rules which must be followed in order to survive the gender inequality. You must consider not being a women when it comes to choosing your clothes in the middle of the summer, not go out of your house without a company of a male person, try avoiding the eye contact with male people around. Also, there is one certain rule when going around during the night – always be in company of a male person or consider taking a taxi, which is a verified one.
Conclusion
When in India, try avoiding eating from restaurants with a bad reputation. They have a beautiful meals, but try not to be extra courageous when exploring the spices. Make sure that you are not drinking tap water, avoiding the ice cubes in your drinks as well.
